Metallic mesh material



1963 o. s. KOSKINEN 3,116,120

METALLIC MESH MATERIAL Filed Aug. 18. 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 7 j/ 13 i1; Z4! 74 L0 UM Dec. 31, 1963 o. s. KOSKINEN I 3,116,120

METALLIC MESH MATERIAL 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 18. 1960 United States Patent C) sarsrze METALLIC MESH MATERIAL ()nni S. Kosltinen, 6236 Bloomfield Glens, West Bloomfield, Mich. Filed Aug. 18, 1960, Ser. No. 59,438 4 Claims. (Cl. 2183) This invention relates to mesh construction and to the method and apparatus for making the novel mesh material.

It is a particular object of this invention to provide an improved type of mesh material that is formed by a continuous, economical, simplified, one-step shearing operation.

it is another object of this invention to provide a novel mesh material that is formed by a single step shearing operation applied to an inexpensive, continuous sheet of relatively thin metallic or similar material.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a mesh material formed by a novel shearing process that permits the formation of outwardly extending Vs or winglike, projecting surfaces on either one or both sides of the sheet of stock, which Vs are curled so that one V overlies the spaces from which adjacent Vs are cut from the sheet. The Vs are both out and curled by a shear type of cutting and forming tool. The character of the mesh can be readily varied over a wide range by selecting different thicknesses of sheet stock and by varying the spacing of the successive shear cuts through the sheet stock and by forming the projections on one or both sides of the sheet.

it is another object of this invention to provide a novel sheet of mesh material having smooth edged border portions encircling a mass of evenly spaced, outwardly extending, curled, projections that present a mesh sheet of pleasing appearance that is extremely flexible for rolling into a coil or any other shape and wherein the curled outwardly extending projections provide the optimum in bafiiing structure for filtering purposes.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become readily apparent .rorn a reading of the following specification and a consideration of the related drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of one form of apparatus for making a sheet of metallic mesh embodying this invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken along the line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary elevational view of one side or .face of a sheet of mesh material embodying the invention shown in FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional elevational view taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a moditied form of this invention;

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of the modified form of the invention snown in FIG. 5, the view being taken looking in the direction of the arrow 6 of FIG. 5;

FlG. 7 is an end elevational view of the FIG. 6 modified form of this invention, the view being taken in the direction of the arrow 7 of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 3 is a side elevational View of an internal combustion engine air cleaner having a filter element formed from a rolled coil of metallic mesh material embodying this invention.

FIGS. 1, 2 and 4 of the drawings show apparatus for forming a metallic mesh sheet M in accordance with one form of this invention. The sheet of mesh M formed by this apparatus is shown in FIG. 3 in particular. With the apparatus shown, a sheet of relatively thin metallic foil lit, such as aluminum or stainless steel, or the like, is passed upwardly between the friction drive rolls 11 and Ed th Ed 12. The drive rolls 11, 12 each carry toothed gear sectors 11a and 12a that provide the means for actuating the rolls 11, 12 through the oscillatable drive links 13 and 14, respectively. The drive links 13 and 14 each have a hooked end 13a and 14a, respectively, that is adapted to drivingly engage the teeth of the ass ciated gear sector lla or 12a during oscillation of the links 13 and 14 by the oscillatable crank arms 15 and 16. Cranks l5 and 16 are pivotally supported at 1'7 and 18, respectively, and are oscillatably driven by reciprocating piston rods 1% and 20. The free ends of the oscillatable cranks l5 and 16 are connected by pivot pins 21 and 22 to the sets of cutter bars 23 and 24, respectively.

The cutter bars 23, 24, which are identical in size and shape, but arranged in opposed relationship, are trianguiarly shaped in cross sectional configuration. These cutter bars 23, are slidably supported in mating grooves 2-5 formed in the table 2'7. Preferably the lower edges of the cutter bars are perpendicular to each other as shown in FIG. 2. This cuts a 99 V out of the sheet. A clamping bar 28, or similar mechanism, can be applied to the top of the cutter table 27 to retain the cutter bars 23, 24 in their mating table grooves 25'. The tabie 27 has a slot 29 extending therethrough to receive the sheet of stock material Elli as it is passed upwardly by the friction drive rolls it, 12. Slot 29 in table 27 is positioned so that it will position the sheet stock iii in the path of the reciprocating cutter bars 23, 24.

The cutting ends 2.3a, 2.4a of the cutter bars 23, 2d slop upwardly and rearwardly as clearly shown in FIGS. and 4 to constitute forming tools which cause outward curling of the projections 31 and 32 as the cutter bars 23, are alternately reciprocated through the sheet stock it? to shear the Wings 33, 32 from the sheet stock.

As the piston rod 19 is drawn towards the left the crank 15 is turned counterclockwise and this movement of the crank 15 causes the drive link 13 to be pulled towards the left such that hooked end 13a of drive link 13 will engage the adjacent tooth on the gear sector 11a and thereby cause a partial rotation of the friction drive rol or Eli. At the same time that the drive roller ll is being rotated counterclockwise the cutter bars 23 are being moved towards the withdrawn position 23c which is shown in broken lines in FIG. 1. Due to synchronization of the drive means for the piston rods 19 and 2b, the crank 16 wiil be oscillated towards the left at the same time that the cutter bars 23 are being withdrawn from the sheet stock iii and by the time the cutter bars 24; reach the position of the sheet stock lit the friction drive roll 11 has elevated the sheet lit to such a position that the cutter bars 24 may then pierce the sheet 1t and form a set of leftwardly extending curled wings 31. After cutting of the wings 31 by the cutter bars 24, the piston rod 26 is drawn towards the right so as to actuate crank l6 in a clockwise direction and at the same time begin rightward movement of the cutter bars 24 and rightward movement of the drive link 14. The hooked end 14a of the drive link 14 will engage a tooth on the geared sector 3.2a thereafter rotate the friction roller 12 in a clockwise direction so as to cause elevation of the sheet stock it) so as to position sheet material in the path of the cutter bars 23 which will thereafter be actuated to shear a set of rightwardly extending curled wing-like projections 32 from the sheet stock 169. As a result of repetition of the afor described method of operation of the shearing apparatus, a sheet of mesh material having a configuration such as is shown in FIGS. 1 through 4 will be formed.

it will be noted from FIG. 1 that the wing-like projections 31 and 32 are arranged in staggered vertical relationship on opposite sides of the mesh sheet M, so that the Vs on one side of the sheet are opposite: the spaces between the Vs on the opposite side of the sheet. FIGS. 2 and 3 clearly show the peculiar arrangement of the projections 31 on one side of the mesh sheet, it being understood that there is a similar arrangement of wing-like projections 3-2 on the opposite side of the sheet in the spaces between the projections 31 as clearly shown in FIG. 1. Each of the Vs is curled so that the surface of the V lies in a cylindrical surface, the axis of which is parallel to the line which joins the ends of the arms of the V at their roots, that is at the points where the arms remain attached to the sheet. As used herein, cylindrical has its geometric meaning, which includes any surface defined by the path of any closed planar curve moving parallel to itself in a substantially straight line. Preferably the Vs occupy about 180 of this cylindrical surface so that the points of the Vs are substantially parallel to the roots of the arms. See FIGS. 1 and 2. Also each V is curled to overlie a plurality of spaces from which the Vs above it were cut. The combined effect of the staggering or opposite spacing and this overlie provides a particularly thick and effective bafiie and filter arrangement in which one set of baffles on one side of the sheet is disposed at a substantial distance from the baflles on the opposite side, and opposite their interstices. It will be noted from PK}. 3 that the vertically arranged rows of projections 31 are attached to solid strips of sheet material 33 and that there is a border 34 of solid material around the sides of the mesh sheet M. Openings of substantially triangular shape 36 are formed at the lower end of the columns of wing-like projections 31, 32 as clearly shown in FIG. 3. A smooth unperforated edge 37 is also provided at the lower edge of the mesh sheet M so that the mesh sheet is easy to handle and can be readily mounted in a frame or support by means of its unperforated smooth edge border that extends completely around the mesh area.

FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 show a modified form of this invention wherein the mesh sheet M is provided with outwardly extending curled Vs 51 that extend from only one side of the sheet M. Obviously such a modified form can be prepared by using only a single set of cutter bars that enter the sheet stock from only one side thereof rather than from opposite sides thereof. This particular formation may be particularly advantageous in certain installations although it does not provide the multiplicity of filtering elements that are supplied in a sheet such as the doubled sided sheet M of FIGS. 1 through 4.

FIG. 8 shows the incorporation of a coil of mesh material of the type disclosed in FIGS. 1 through 4 and through 7 as the filter cartridge of an internal combustion engine air cleaner. The air cleaner 61 has an inlet pipe 62 and an outlet pipe 63. Air entering the interior of the cleaner 61 through the inlet pipe 62 must pass through the coil of metallic mesh 64 before passing outwardly through the outlet pipe 63 to the engine intake manifold. The filter cartridge 64 which is formed of mesh material embodying this invention provides a very effective dry filter that can be provided at a minimum cost and will function with maximum ei'liciency.

I claim:

1. An integral mesh including a sheet of self-sustaining material having a series of Vs cut from nested, contiguous portions of the sheet with the ends of the arms of the Vs left attached to the sheet so that the portion of the material including said series consists entirely of said Vs, each V being displaced out of the original plane of the sheet and disposed in a substantially cylindrical surface whose axis is parallel to the line joining the at tached ends of the arms of the V.

2. An integral mesh including a sheet of self-sustaining material having a series of Vs cut from nested, contiguous portions of the sheet with the ends of the arms of the Vs left attached to the sheet so that the portion of the material including said series consists entirely of said Vs, each V being displaced out of the original plane of the sheet and disposed throughout about of a substan tially cylindrical surface whose axis is parallel to the line joining the attached ends of the arms of the V.

3. An integral mesh including a sheet of self-sustaining material having a series of Vs cut from nested, contiguous portions of the sheet with the ends of the arms of the Vs left attached to the sheet so that the portion of the material including said series consists entirely of said Vs, each V being displaced out of the original plane of the sheet and formed to overlie a plurality of spaces from which other individual Vs have been cut.

4. An integral mesh including a sheet of self-sustaining material having a series of Vs cut from nested, contiguous portions of the sheet with the ends of the arms of the Vs left attached to the sheet so that the portion of the material including said series consists entirely of said Vs, each V being displaced out of the original plane of the sheet and disposed in a substantially cylindrical surface whose axis is parallel to the line joining the attached ends of the arms of the V and alternate Vs being on opposite sides of said plane so that a V on one side is opposite the space between adjacent Vs on the other side.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 390,941 Baillie Oct. 9, 1888 1,006,600 Speller Oct. 24, 1911 1,839,284 White Jan. 5, 1932 1,927,791 Balfe Sept. 19, 1933 2,158,074 Kilb May 16, 1939 2,245,908 Drake June 17, 1941 2,633,630 Woods et a1. Apr. 7, 1953 2,781,097 Nold Feb. 12, 1957 2,861,326 Bergstrom Nov. 25, 1958 2,969,586 Victor Jan. 31, 1961 

1. AN INTEGRAL MESH INCLUDING A SHEET OF SELF-SUSTAINING MATERIAL HAVING A SERIES OF V''S CUT FROM NESTED, CONTIGUOUS PORTIONS OF THE SHEET WITH THE ENDS OF THE ARMS OF THE V''S LEFT ATTACHED TO THE SHEET SO THAT THE PORTION OF THE MATERIAL INCLUDING SAID SERIES CONSISTS ENTIRELY OF SAID V''S, EACH V BEING DISPLACED OUT OF THE ORIGINAL PLANE OF THE SHEET AND DISPOSED IN A SUBSTANTIALLY CYLINDRICAL SURFACE WHOSE AXIS IS PARALLEL TO THE LINE JOINING THE ATTACHED ENDS OF THE ARMS OF THE V. 